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Ortiz surprisingly doesn't have torn elbow ligament

6/2/13: Ramon Ortiz throws his glove down in frustration and leaves the game after an apparent injury following a pitch to Chase Headley

By Gregor Chisholm
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MLB.com |

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Blue Jays received some shocking news Tuesday afternoon when it was revealed that Ramon Ortiz does not have a tear in his ulnar collateral ligament.

Ortiz underwent an MRI earlier in the day and the results did not show a tear in his right elbow. The news comes just two days after Ortiz departed his start vs. San Diego in the third inning with what appeared to be a severe injury.

The 40-year-old will undergo more tests when swelling in the area subsides, but for now the injury does not appear to be nearly as severe as first thought.

"It shocked me," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of the news while adding the two have exchanged text messages.

"He has been around a long time and he has been healthy. He has never experienced anything like that as far as I know of. He threw that one pitch, these guys all know when something goes wrong in there. Hopefully it's something he can heal from."

Ortiz was facing Padres third baseman Chase Headley when he threw a pitch and immediate felt severe discomfort in his right elbow. He slammed his glove to the ground and left the field in tears thinking that his career had possibly just come to an end.

There's still no guarantee Ortiz will be able to make it back, but the outlook is a lot more positive than it was a couple of days ago. The news was embraced inside Toronto's clubhouse as most people originally feared the worst.

The hope now is that Ortiz can control his own fate as opposed to having his career automatically end because of what transpired on the field.

"He's a tremendous competitor, team guy that wants to win," Gibbons said. "All these guys, everybody who has played the game, they reach that point in their career when they know it's coming to an end, sooner or later you have to give it up. That's one thing you always fear is an injury leading to that."